St. Landry democrat., 1887-11-26

tea-Timoteo. The Heaven that in
spired the, giving Of two such names
meant them for each other"
she is nearly fifty, your eHcellency.'
"True. The harmony in your ages IS,
as you doubtless mean to Suggest, an
important and charming consideration.
"The generals estate was, l think,
rather small"
Eyes But you are very rich-rich
enough for two at least
But" stammered Don TimoteO as
glimmerng perception of bargain
broke upon his rather obtuse mind,
would she cOndescend to accept the
hand of dsgraced statesman-an ex-
minister of Fomento?"
"She shall not. Her husband shall be
minister of Fomento in perpetuo."
"Ah! Your excellency has a noble
heart. I would be an migrate not to
accept your recommendation as con-
elusive"
Many Thanksgiving dinner has been
eaten that had less basis of gratitude to
! Heaven than the President harbOred
over his getting rid of that snarling,
fretful, fault-tinding, gimlet-eyed, poor,
! old sister, law. Don Timoteo was not
altogether without apprehensions rs to
the price he was paying for continuance
in office, but philosophiCally concluded
that, whatever it might be, he could
better afford it than he could endure re-
trement from the cares and dignity OF
official life, which were to him as the
breath of his nostrils.
Immediately upon his leaving the au-
| dience-chamber the ex-minister of Fo-
mento indted letter, in his best official
| l, o1l -
setting forth in grandly -circumlocutory
| phrases his tardily arrived at conscious
ness Of the disparity between the ages Of
the angelic Senorita Solita and himself;
his devotion to the service of his coun-
try that forbade his resigning himself to
| the allurements of domestic felicity and,
finally, his self-felicitations upon the fact
that the senorita not yet having been
officially informed of the honor contem-
plated for her, she would not suffer the
keen pangs of disappointment that would
naturally, otherwise, be felt.
Senior Campos, after reading that let
ter, found himself pretty well tuned up
to the proper frame Of mind for
| Thanksgiving dinner. He, too, had been
thinking of the disparity in age between
| Solita and the man he had intended to
make her husbands of her love, which
she had so pasSionately manifested to
| him, for his young American clerk; OF
his own love for her and how near he
| had been-as he imagined-to sacrificing
her happiness to his selfish interests and
cold-blooded purposes. Now that l
! come to think of it, he said to himself,
II would not have liked, when | was
young, to be forced to marry some old
woman, such an one as Sonora
Vinnesa, for instance, and perhaps o
young girl is likely to have some
| such feeling about marrying an old man.
But how can get out of the scrape now
without offending Don Timoteo?' The
! letter of the worthy minister of Fomento
settled that question, and now Senior
Campos was as thankful and happy as he
could reasonably be expected to be under
the circumstances, for he had finally
made up his mind to do the right and
proper thing by the young folks, regard
less of his previous plans,
Harry Ringgold was packing his trunk
! for Maracaibo when two notes were
handed to him. One was brief and i'm
perative missive from his employer:
II shall expect to see you at dinner, at
five o'clock, without fail"
The other was from Solita, and almost
equally brief:
My darling, you were right. My
uncle has sprung his trap. | am to be
married You will see at dinner to-day
the husband he intends for me. If you
still love me come. | must see you.
Your own Solita.'
"Aha! thought Harry" she does
love me after all. He seeks to compel
her to sacrifice herself and she rebels.
She will run away with me. Yes, am
sure that that is what she means"
The hours until time for him to 60 Ito
that hideous mockery of Thanksgiving
dinner seemed interminable. To kill
time he packed and repacked his trunk,
not for Maracaibo, but for The wide,
wide world" since, as he fully recog-
niZed, the relations between him and his
employer were upon the point of sever.
ance forever.
How unconscious of that fact Senior
Campos appeared when Harry at length
entered his parlor and found there
nobody but the old gentleman and his
niece They seemed to have some
pleasant understanding between them
that made him uneasy. In his excited
frame of mind he was disposed to be
suspicious, and Solita's vivacity and
|
with what he expected to see in heI
that he began to doubt if she were not
preparing a great treachery to over
| whelm him. Once he found an oppOr-
tunity to whisper to her:
I'VE will run away TO night
She looked up at him and laughed out
right, "a merry ringing peal Of laughter that
gave him a thrill of horror, and shook her
! head in sion of denial
Still her intended husband had not ap-
peared. The clock was upon the stroke
of five, and the announcement of the
Thanksgiving dinner was momentarily
expected. Senior Campos, with covert
smile at Solita, left the room for a mo-
ment.
Hesitatingly, stammeringly, Harry said
to her:
Il understood-or-expected-that Is,
I thought | was to see another person
here"
Another persona" Solita echoed with
an innocent atfectation of unconscious
ness.
Yes; your note told me so. The man
he intends you shall marry"
"Oh! He arrived half an hour ago."
N\Jbera 6cas no hide himco1fSO